BT & AT

 

Yesterday in The Bulwark Sarah Longwell noted that we have reached an inflection point. The election of Donald Trump in 2016 was one of those “through the looking glass” moments that mark a different age. There is Before Trump and After Trump. The BT years included a Republican Party that had been formed in the 1850s to protect free labor; led a Civil War that destroyed slavery but did not destroy the racism and white supremacy in which slavery began; became a bastion for business for decades; opposed the New Deal because it was too socialistic for them; and sank into a party of grievances and culture wars as the 20 century’s last decades were closing out. There is, of course, much more history and nuance to the story but the basic shape of the Republican Party today was formed before Barack Obama was elected to the presidency in 2008.

Donald Trump was a problematic person long before he ran for the presidency. Loudmouthed, obscene, misogynistic, and sociopathic, he was and is a skilled manipulator of the American legal system and survived 6 bankruptcies and many lawsuits. His tactics in court cases were described as “Attack. Attack. Attack. Delay. Delay. Delay.” by the New York Times. With his indictment by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg this month, the first of many heavy legal shoes seems to have dropped for “Teflon Don”. The jury is being selected in the case where E. Jean Carroll has accused him of defamation and battery. In Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has widened the scope of the investigation into alleged election fraud with Trump at the center of the problem, and disarray among the fake Trump electors may introduce a person who will turn state’s evidence against Teflon Don. The Federal investigations continue and indictments are likely there too. Just this afternoon, Fox caved and entered a settlement with Dominion Voting Systems to avoid a jury trial. Fox, once Trump's favorite network, has admitted to pushing lies that supported Trump for years.

Ms. Longwell, sadly, seems to have it correct. Trump infected what was once a great political party and converted it into a cult of personality. There will be no going back to a party that once had great statesmen in it. In the Supreme Court, the senior Justice Clarence Thomas has mired himself and the court in so many scandals that Americans question the court’s legitimacy. In Congress, MAGA star Jim Jordan heads a failed “weaponization” committee and is the epitome of ineptness. The way forward for the GOP seems to entail major pain for it as well as for the country at large and democracy in general. Even if Donald Trump skates again, he has exposed himself as nothing but a failed conman and a would-be autocrat. I hope the young people of this country are up for digging us out of the train wreck he created.